It is not a secret that Belgians are mad on mussels, and as this picture of an old musselbarge, on the channel, at the end of the 19th century, shows, the phenomenon is not recent. Today one can buy mussels nearly a full year, but when I was a kid the season was very short. When from time to time a musselbarge from Yerseke in Zealand, moored in our village, housewifes hurried, their zinc bucket in the hand, to the channel to buy a portion. In the evening the streets were smelling of mussels. Image size: 260 x 360 mm